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Patricia Piccinini isn’t worried if Skywhale and Skywhalepapa aren’t able to rise at dawn above Canberra on Sunday. The unpredictability of the weather – an ever-present natural force we have no means to control – is all part of the project, the contemporary artist says. Skywhale and Skywhalepapa are set for their first public flight from the Parliamentary Triangle on Sunday morning, having had the launch delayed a day due to forecast poor weather. Piccinini, speaking on Friday, is well aware how difficult it is to say for certain the balloons will take to the air – and welcomes the uncertainty. Assembling at dawn to wait for the lift off of the Skywhales has its own power. “Just the sounds, the atmosphere and just the smell of things. It’s different,” Piccinini says. Piccinini’s Skywhale, which was commissioned for the centenary of Canberra in 2013, has had a life of its own, becoming an emblem of pride in public art and the city’s creative life after first attracting criticism and outrage. But Piccinini never thought she would make another balloon. “They’re pretty expensive to make and quite an ordeal, because there’s a lot of negotiating about the changes that need to be made to make it into an aeronautical machine,” she says. “They do have to slightly change from the original model that my studio sends over, the digital model from my drawings. So it’s a pretty big deal to make one. The reason why there’s so few of these special-shaped balloons is that. It’s a big deal and only two places in the world make them.” But a commission from the National Gallery of Australia, which acquired Skywhale for the national collection in 2019, gave Piccinini the chance to explore the missing part of the Skywhale story. “I thought, ‘Great. I’m going to answer the question that a lot of people asked me. And that was, “Here is this beautiful maternal image, this beautiful nurturing icon. Where are the children?” Good question.’ And I’d always thought, maybe I could just maybe make these sculptures of children, big children, I don’t know. Just inflatable children, I don’t know. I was thinking about things like that,” she says. Piccinini says Skywhalepapa, caring for the children, says something about the way nurturing has been gendered in human societies. “The caring professions are generally female: medicine, teaching, mothering. And they’ve often been undervalued, underpaid. And to see a male doing this – because that’s actually what’s happening in our society – is a great thing to celebrate and have reflected back at us. It also says that care is not gendered. It’s available to all of us. We can all do it,” she says. “And it’s not just human either. There are lots of animals that care, because we didn’t actually think that animals have the potential to have these relationships and that’s why we treat animals in the way we do. “If you really think about that idea of gendered care, if you really focus on it, it’s got really big tentacles out to the way we treat other animals.” Piccinini is well aware of the criticism directed at Skywhale, but says art offers an opportunity to focus one’s mind and really consider an idea presented to them. “People are always going to say we should be funding hospitals, not art. There are a myriad things you could say,” she says. “We separate ourselves out from the artful people: ‘I’m not arty, I’m not interested in creativity or ideas, so I don’t value that.’ But actually I think that’s what we need, we all need a bit of this. “We need everything. We need hospitals. We need education. We need good governance and we need culture. And so talking about these big ideas in this context, I think it’s valuable.” READ MORE: Controversial artwork rises above all the hot air The journey from public outrage to revered symbol of the capital’s uniqueness has been a positive one. “It’s been fantastic for me. It’s been, ‘Oh, success.’ I’m not one of those artists who says, ‘I don’t care what people think. I make it for my peers.’ Or, ‘If people don’t understand me, I don’t care.’ I actually do care what people think because I’m having a conversation with people and it is really important to be able to have a two-way interaction. Otherwise, why make the art? I could just make it from my bedroom, if it’s just for me,” she says. “I make work to connect with other people and the work is about connection. And it does bring people together and it is about community.”
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Patricia Piccinini isn’t worried if Skywhale and Skywhalepapa aren’t able to rise at dawn above Canberra on Sunday.
The unpredictability of the weather – an ever-present natural force we have no means to control – is all part of the project, the contemporary artist says.
Skywhale and Skywhalepapa are set for their first public flight from the Parliamentary Triangle on Sunday morning, having had the launch delayed a day due to forecast poor weather.
Piccinini, speaking on Friday, is well aware how difficult it is to say for certain the balloons will take to the air – and welcomes the uncertainty.
Assembling at dawn to wait for the lift off of the Skywhales has its own power.
“Just the sounds, the atmosphere and just the smell of things. It’s different,” Piccinini says.
Piccinini’s Skywhale, which was commissioned for the centenary of Canberra in 2013, has had a life of its own, becoming an emblem of pride in public art and the city’s creative life after first attracting criticism and outrage.
But Piccinini never thought she would make another balloon.
“They’re pretty expensive to make and quite an ordeal, because there’s a lot of negotiating about the changes that need to be made to make it into an aeronautical machine,” she says.
“They do have to slightly change from the original model that my studio sends over, the digital model from my drawings. So it’s a pretty big deal to make one. The reason why there’s so few of these special-shaped balloons is that. It’s a big deal and only two places in the world make them.”
Patricia Piccinini inside Skywhalepapa. Picture: Supplied
But a commission from the National Gallery of Australia, which acquired Skywhale for the national collection in 2019, gave Piccinini the chance to explore the missing part of the Skywhale story.
“I thought, ‘Great. I’m going to answer the question that a lot of people asked me. And that was, “Here is this beautiful maternal image, this beautiful nurturing icon. Where are the children?” Good question.’ And I’d always thought, maybe I could just maybe make these sculptures of children, big children, I don’t know. Just inflatable children, I don’t know. I was thinking about things like that,” she says.
Piccinini says Skywhalepapa, caring for the children, says something about the way nurturing has been gendered in human societies.
“The caring professions are generally female: medicine, teaching, mothering. And they’ve often been undervalued, underpaid. And to see a male doing this – because that’s actually what’s happening in our society – is a great thing to celebrate and have reflected back at us. It also says that care is not gendered. It’s available to all of us. We can all do it,” she says.
“And it’s not just human either. There are lots of animals that care, because we didn’t actually think that animals have the potential to have these relationships and that’s why we treat animals in the way we do.
“If you really think about that idea of gendered care, if you really focus on it, it’s got really big tentacles out to the way we treat other animals.”
Skywhalepapa. Picture: Supplied
Piccinini is well aware of the criticism directed at Skywhale, but says art offers an opportunity to focus one’s mind and really consider an idea presented to them.
“People are always going to say we should be funding hospitals, not art. There are a myriad things you could say,” she says.
“We separate ourselves out from the artful people: ‘I’m not arty, I’m not interested in creativity or ideas, so I don’t value that.’ But actually I think that’s what we need, we all need a bit of this.
“We need everything. We need hospitals. We need education. We need good governance and we need culture. And so talking about these big ideas in this context, I think it’s valuable.”
The journey from public outrage to revered symbol of the capital’s uniqueness has been a positive one.
“It’s been fantastic for me. It’s been, ‘Oh, success.’ I’m not one of those artists who says, ‘I don’t care what people think. I make it for my peers.’ Or, ‘If people don’t understand me, I don’t care.’ I actually do care what people think because I’m having a conversation with people and it is really important to be able to have a two-way interaction. Otherwise, why make the art? I could just make it from my bedroom, if it’s just for me,” she says.
“I make work to connect with other people and the work is about connection. And it does bring people together and it is about community.”
- Skywhales: Every Heart Sings will take place at John Dunmore Lang Place in Parkes on February 7, March 8 and April 3. The balloons will then tour Australia as part of an NGA touring exhibition.
